La Tempesta Filomena, Les Ones, #2, Barcelona 2021
Lots of snow all around Spain from this latest named storm, Filomena… and, sadly, at least three related deaths so far.
Madrid was looking a whole lot like Colorado, with the city basically closed down to all but kids on sleds and the odd cross-country ski fanatic.
Here in Barcelona, though, just rain, cold, wind… and some big waves on the Mediterranean. (Surf’s up, dudes!)
This morning, as the storm slowly moved out to sea, there were gaggles of onlookers admiring the still heavily pounding surf. Usually, the Med is quite tranquil here (like, paddle board calm), so the novelty of it all had folks up early with their ice cold thumbs shakily pressing their phone video buttons.
A few images…
Photographing water, whether it be a creek, a fountain, a waterfall, or ocean waves, takes some experimentation. The idea is to try different shutter speeds looking for the effects you like. Depending on the light, you might have to shoot at a very small aperture combined with a very low ISO number, or even add filters, to get down to the slower speeds. You can try to hand hold if you have some kind of vibration reduction, but a sturdy tripod is indispensible.
Then, record a whole slew of “takes”–you never know how the patterns in the water will play out. In this case, the waves cycled through with regularity, but were always as different as snowflakes.
Back at home on the big computer screen, I sifted through my memory card and these were the three of Hotel W that I liked best:
La Tempesta Filomena, Hotel W, #1, Barcelona 2021 (1/13 sec shutter speed)
La Tempesta Filomena, Hotel W, #2, Barcelona 2021 (1/8 sec shutter speed)
La Tempesta Filomena, Hotel W, #3, Barcelona 2021 (1/6 sec shutter speed)
Those cement blocks measure probably two meeters by two meters and are there to protect the beach from erosion. They also make nice springboards on which the incoming waves could boom, crash, splash, and play:
La Tempesta Filomena, Les Ones, #1, Barcelona 2021 (1/10 sec shutter speed)
There was a steady drizzle and a lot of sea mist hanging in the air–not the best conditions for whipping out a digital camera. A plastic bag or an umbrella is the ticket to keep your electronics dry–or you could splurge on specialized rain gear for the same purpose. Here, an umbrella lady happened to walk into the scene adding a bit more interest to what many will recognize as an iconic Barcelona beach perspective:
La Tempesta Filomena, Cubes and Hotel W. #3, Barcelona 2021 (f/11, 1/20, 48mm, ISO64)
No, it isn’t the same umbrella lady as in the previous shot… but I really liked the blurred effect of her presence, complementing the blurred waves, as I was working on some symmetry with the four beach shower poles. Then, you have that pesky little pigeon as an additional protagonist:
La Tempesta Filomena, Les Dutxes, #2, Barcelona 2021 (1/5 second shutter speed)
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